Curtis Harding is one of the few artists in the retro-soul community who seemingly has no interest in nostalgia. He doesn't evoke the sounds of Black music of the 1960s and '70s because it makes him cool, but because it's his lingua franca, and he never sounds like he's lifting from a particular artist or producer, but conjuring a sound that recalls the past while writing firmly in the present tense.
Harding is also an artist eager to grow and innovate even as he evokes past styles, and after making three outstanding and distinctive albums -- 2014's
Soul Power, 2017's
Face Your Fear, and 2021's
If Words Were Flowers -- he's taken a bold step forward on 2025's
Departures and Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt. The guiding concept here is
Harding is an astronaut who has been sent into space, and as he explores the cosmos, he can think of little besides the woman he loves, and how much he truly needs her, not simply for affection or comfort but as someone who helps him make sense of the obstacles of life. That said, while he clarifies all this in the press materials that come with the album, none of it is explicitly stated within the songs themselves, and while the sci-fi backstory explains a great deal, the album still works without awareness of it.
Harding does throw in occasional audio squibbles that add an outer-space tone, though they're few and far between; the most significant changes come in the production, which is big and spacious, with prominent keyboards, plenty of deep echo, and orchestral arrangements by
Steve Hackman that evoke classic film scores in their grandeur, though the implacable groove of the rhythm section insures this music has one foot on planet Earth at all times. The sheer space of the mix is one of the album's few faults -- the depth plays with his vocals, and on some tracks (especially the closer, "Running Outta Space"), they all but vanish in the echo, which is especially problematic given the strength of his singing and the heartfelt musings of his lyrics. (Hint to consumers: This is an album that sounds significantly better when you play it loud.) If
Departures and Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt has flaws, they don't change the fact it's an audacious bit of record-making that succeeds far more often than it fails, and once again confirms
Harding is a major artist whose talents deserve a far wider audience. You can help change that by giving it a spin, and you aren't likely to regret it. ~ Mark Deming
